Portable back support for seats



Sept. 27, 1938. H. H. COOPER- Y 3 PORTABLE BACK SUPPORT FOR SEATS FiledDec. 30, 1937 Patented Sept. 27, 1938' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4Claims.

This invention relates to seats and particularly to a portable backsupport designed for use in stadiums, on bleacher seats and under likecircumstances.

The general object of the invention is .to provide a very simple,sturdily made and readily portable back support having means whereby itmay be engaged with a stadium or bleacher seat or bench, and which is soconstructed that the seat engaging portion may be folded up against theback support when not desired for use.

A further object is to so connect the seat engaging element with theback support that the hinged joint between the seat engaging element andthe back support will not pinch or snag the garments of the wearer.

My invention is illustrated in theaccompanylng drawing wherein: 1

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my device in position on a seat.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section on the line 33 of Fig. 2 on an enlargedscale. I

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through one of the sidebars of the back support showing the means whereby the back support ispivotally connected to the seat engaging element.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 4, the seatengaging element being shown in section.

Referring to the drawing, I designates a metallic back support which isshown as approximately U-shaped to provide lateral downwardly extendingside portions II. The upper portion of this back support is filled in bya web- I2, which may be made of metal, fabric, leather or any othersuitable material. As will be seen from Fig. 2, the frame Ill with thedownwardly extending portions or legs II is approximately U- shaped incross-section and the Web l2 at its upper portion is extended forwardand is attached to the front flange I3 of the frame Ill. The frontflange at its lower end is cut away, as shown in Fig. 4, and bentforwardly, as at I4.

The back support is engaged with the seat A of a bleacher or stadiumseat by means of a seat engaging element designated generally I5, whichcomprises two side bars I6, each side bar at its forward end extendingdownward, as at IT, and then inward or rearward, as at I8, andterminating in' a cross-bar I9, which connects the two inwardlyextending portions I 8. Thus the seat engaging element is formed at itsforward end with a hook which engages beneath the forward edge of theseat A and holds the back supporting frame in place upon the seat. Eachof the bars I6 extends rearwardly, as shown in Fig.

4, and at its rear end is bent around at 20, to form an eye. This eye ispivoted to the lower end of the corresponding member I l of the back, aswill be now described.

Embracing each barIIi at its rear end is a triangular shield 2|, whichis folded .along its lower edge to extend beneath and fit against andpartly 10 embrace the rear end of the corresponding seat. engaging barthe corresponding bar I6 and upward on each side of the correspondingportion I I of the back frame III, as shown clearly in Figs.

4 and 5. This shield is triangular in side eleval5 tion and the lateralmembers of the shield are inwardly flanged at 22 to extend over the rearface of the corresponding member I I. A rivet 23 passes through themember II and through the two sidewalls of the shield, as shown in Figs.3 go and 5, and a rivet 24 extends through the side walls of the shield,through the eye and through the forwardly bent flange I4, thus pivotallyconnecting the element I5 with the back frame. It will be understoodthat the triangular shield is thus rigidly held to the legs II of theback frame but that the back frame may be turned down against the seatengaging element I5, as shown by dotted linesin Fig. 4. The purpose ofbending the flange II forwardly, asat I4, is to provide a suitablebearing for the rivet 24, which constitutes the pivot and to provideclearance for the eye 20, and one purpose of the triangular shield is toprevent any possibility of the clothes of the user becoming pinched orsnagged at the hinge joint between the element I6 and the back frame I0.A further and important feature of this triangular member 2| is toconstitute means for supporting the back of the seat when the back isplaced in a vertical position and receives the pressure of the usersback. Under these circumstances, the member 2| transmits the backwardthrust on the back of the seat to the bars I 5 and they carry theultimate strain to the hooks I8. Still another important featureincident to the use of the shields 2| is that these shields prevent theback Ill from being forced down against the bars I5 when these bars are'engaged with the bleacher seat A. This advantage is secured by foldingthe material for each triangular shield along the lower edge of theshield" so that this folded portion fits closely against thecorresponding bar I6 and is disposed between the corresponding bar I6and the slats of the bleacher seat. Thus if the user of the back supportshould rise for any reason, the back cannot be thrown down by a personsitting in the next rearward seat because inasmuch as the back I0 isrigidly connected to the triangular shields, these triangular shieldswould have to be forced down if the back is turneddown. This would actto lift the side bars l6 at their rears ends but this in turn isprevented by the hooks I8 which bear against the underface of theforward slat of the bleacher seat so that until the back support isentirely removed from the slats of the bleacher seat A, the back cannotbe turned down either accidently or intentionally by a person sittingbehind nor can it accidently fall down.

The back :2 is dished out to fit the body and similar to the roundedor-concave back of -certain chair backs.

nel irons II as this back'frame Ill might be formed of small pipe, a rodrounded in crosssection or an angle iron, as may be found desirable. g i

What is claimed is: I

'1. A device of the character described, including a back frame havingtwo laterally spaced downwardly extending side bars and a connectingportion, a seat engaging element having two laterally spacedbars pivotedat their rear ends to the lower ends of the back bars, the seat engagingelement at its forward end being formed with a hook to engage beneaththe forward edge of a seat, and a triangular shield folded along itslower to receive, fit against and partially embrace the rear end of thecorresponding seat engaging bar and extending upwardly on opposite sidesof the corresponding side bar of the back and extending partly overthe-rear edge of the corresponding side bar, saidshield being rigidlyattached to the side bars of the back.

2. A device of the character described, including a backsupport formedof channel iron and bent toprovide two laterally spaced downwardlyextending side bars and a connecting portion, the flanges of saidchanneliron extending inwardly, the forward flange of each channel iron at itslower end being bent forwardly, a seat engaging element having twolaterally spaced bars connected to each other at their forward ends by across-bar, the laterally spaced bars of the seat engaging element beingbent to form eyes at their rear ends, triangular shields each extendingbeneath and embracing the rear end of each seat engaging bar andextending up on opposite sides of the corresponding side bar of theback, a rivet engaging the upper end of each shield with thecorresponding side bar of the back, and a rivet passing through theshield, through said eye in the corresponding seat engaging bar andthrough the forwardly extending flange of the corresponding side bar ofthe back.

3. A device of the character described, including a back support formedof channel iron and bent to provide two laterally spaced downwardlyextending side bars and a connecting portion, the flanges of saidchannel iron extending laterally inwardly, the forward flange of eachchannel iron at its lower end being-bent forwardly, a seat enogagingelement having two laterally spaced bars I do not wish to belimited to the use of chanconnected to each other at their forward endsby a cross-banthe laterally spaced bars of the seat engaging elementbeing bent to form eyes at their rear ends, triangular shields, eachextending be-' neath and embracing the rear end of a corresponding seatengaging bar and extending up on opposite sides of the correspondingside bar of the back, a rivet engaging the upper end of each shield withthe corresponding side bar of the back, and a rivet passing through eachshield, through said eye in the corresponding seat engaging bar andthrough the forwardly extending flange of the corresponding side bar ofthe back, the forward end of each seat engaging bar being extendeddownwardly and rearwardly and said rearwardly extending ends beingconnected by the cross-bar.

4. A device of the character described, including a back supportingframe having two laterally spaced side bars and a connecting portion, aseat engaging element including two laterally spaced bars, the elementhaving means at its forward end for engaging beneath the forward edge ofa seat and triangular shields, each folded along its lower edge topartially embrace and fit against the underface of the rear end of thecor- 1 responding seat engaging bar and extend upwardly on oppositesides of the corresponding side bar of the back and rigidly attachedthereto, the seat engaging element being pivoted to the side bars of theback and tosaid shields.

HAROLD H. COOPER.

